Of Miko Training and Duels
by Neo Staff
Summary: starts out from Miko vs. Miko, but changes!Kagome is kidnapped by Kikyo…for training?Yes,Kikyo is going to train Kagome to become a Miko…only to then challenger her to a duel to the death!What is wrong with this undead Miko?Oh,well, who will keep their so
1. Chapter 1

Of Miko Training and Duels

By: Nene-Chan (Neo Staff)

Summery: (starts out from Miko vs. Miko, but changes!) Kagome is kidnapped by Kikyo…for training? Yes, Kikyo is going to train Kagome to become a Miko…only to then challenger her to a duel to the death! What is wrong with this undead Miko? Oh, well, who will keep their soul and who will not?

It was night and quiet. Nothing stirred. Well, nothing except one person. He jumped from one tree to another, silently, following a scent he knew. He had been woken in the middle of the night by one of her soul catchers and knew that she was near. Jumping out of the hut, he had run off into the trees, not knowing that he had been being watch by a pair of brown eyes.

'Inuyasha…' the girl with chocolate eyes thought. 'Why? She is dead…why follow her?'

But, as this was only thought, Inuyasha never heard. Still running through the trees, though, he did know that Kagome, the chocolate eyed girl, would be hurt in the morning when she found him gone. But at the moment, that thought was not very prominent in his mind. Only Kikyo, the undead women that he was again searching for, was on his mind.

'She has to be close,' he thought, looking around in the trees as he jumped past them. 'Her scent is stronger here…so where is she?'

"Kikyo!" Inuyasha called out as he entered a clearing. "Kikyo?" he called softer.

"Here, Inuyasha." She said softly, appearing in a tree in front of him. "I knew that you would follow."

"Kikyo…" Inuyasha said again, stepping closer to her. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"To take you to hell of course." She answered, also stepping closer and, unknown to Inuyasha, starting to rip a hole in the earth, providing a passage to hell. "It is time that you fulfill you promise to me and follow me to hell."

Inuyasha stood motionless, wondering what to do. The last time this had happened, Kikyo had put a spell on him to keep him from leaving, and Kagome had been there to stop the whole thing. This time, though, Kikyo left him spelless…and Kagome was far away, asleep in her sleeping bag…or so they both thought.

"Kikyo…" Inuyasha said again, not moving this time. "Why now? We haven't defeated Naraku yet. Can't this wait till then?"

Kikyo laughed, a cold, mirthless laugh that sent a chill down Inuyasha, and another's, backs.

"No, Inuyasha, it cannot." Kikyo said, again stepping closer to him. "You are getting to close to that Kagome child and I do not like that. What do you see in her, Inuyasha? She looks like me in almost every way, she is not as powerful as me, yet, but she could have been. If only you were not going to hell with me, she would have grown strong as she stayed by your side. But, as it is, that is not the case. She will wither and die, with no one to protect her!" and with that Kikyo closed the space between her and Inuyasha, opening the rift as she did.

"NO!" the cry broke through the air, just as the arrow did through Kikyo's sleeve. "You won't touch him!" came the voice again.

"And what are you to do, Kagome? Your aim is poor, you shall never strike me. And your powers? They are useless." Kikyo again laughed, this time softly though.

"So?" Kagome shot back, stepping out of the trees. "I may not be able to now, but I will soon! All I need is training."

Kikyo, who had grown silent, smiled now and stepped toward Kagome.

"Don't…" Inuyasha began, also turning. But he was stopped and silenced by Kikyo.

"You," she said. "Will not interfere."

Kagome glared at Kikyo, knowing she could do the same to her if she wanted to. Once Kikyo was only a few feet away from Kagome, she stopped.

"What makes you think," she started. "That even with all of the training you could get, that you would ever be able to beat me?"

Kagome, who was by now more angry then she was scared, retorted, "Because, I am not an undead Miko who relies on the souls of the dead to live! And, unlike you, I…" she glanced at Inuyasha and blushed. "I love him more then you do." She said and paused, letting out a small breath before she continued. "And I can still grow in power. You are stuck with what power you had before you died."

Kikyo frowned. How had this…this…this…_girl_…know that? Kikyo had only thought that she and Naraku knew this. But another?

'She must be guessing…' Kikyo reasoned, and then she saw Kagome glance her over. 'Yes, she is guessing. She doesn't know that she is right.'

"And what would you know?" Kikyo said. "You did not even know that you were a Miko until you were told. Your powers have been dormant for so long, they are still new even now."

Kagome, who was, by now, absolutely confused, said, "Well it's not my fault that they were like that! It's not like I was the one to make that go that way!"

Kikyo laughed, again, and said, "No, but you are the one who did not awaken them. Or, should I say, that you did not mean to awaken them. You had to be put into a near death situation before they surfaced."

Kagome knew that Kikyo was only going off topic to distract her. But from what? Then, as if on cue, Kikyo's Shikigammi came up behind Kagome and wrapped themselves around her.

"You think that you are better then me? Fine, we shall see." Kikyo turned toward Inuyasha and said to him, "Do not think about following, you shall not find us."

'Us?' Inuyasha thought. 'What is she talking about?'

Kikyo then turned back to Kagome and her Shikigammi and said one word: "Come." Before she headed off into the trees. The Shikigammi, still holding Kagome, followed their mistress, sliding through the air effortlessly.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called. "Help me!" but Inuyasha was still frozen in place, unable to move or speak, only his eyes were moving, watching as Kagome slowly went from his view.

"I shall return with her, Inuyasha." Came Kikyo's voice from the trees, seemingly not far from Inuyasha. "In one years time. But as of this moment on, you shall see neither of us, so do not try."

And then he was released from whatever spell Kikyo had had on him.

"Kagome!" he called, starting to go into the direction he had seen her taken. But then he stopped, mid-step. What would Kikyo do if he came after her and Kagome? Would she hurt Kagome or just keep running? And why was she taking Kagome in the first place?

"Meow!" Inuyasha turned to find Kirara standing by the trees, waiting for him.

'I wondered how she followed me…' he thought, slowly making his way over to the neko.

"Let's go back Kirara. The others'll wanna know what happened." Then he snorted and continued, "And we have to go after Kagome, no matter what Kikyo told me! Kagome might need help…and Kikyo might to…"

Kirara just stayed quiet, watching as Inuyasha shook his head and jumped into the trees. Sighing a very human sigh, something she had picked up from Sango, she jumped into the air and followed Inuyasha from high above.

"Inuyasha!" Sango called as she saw him through the trees. "Kirara!" she called again, waving her arms at the both of them.

"Why'd you move camp?" Inuyasha asked the second he had landed, more irritated then he usually was. "We might not have been able to find…"

"It's Kagome," Sango cut him off. "She gone missing and we can't find her. What's wrong?" she asked, seeing that Inuyasha's face ha changed when she had said Kagome's name.

"It's Kagome," Inuyasha said, and saw Miroku and Shippou rushing over to them. "She's been…"

"What did you do with Kagome, ass hold?" Shippou shouted, jumping right on top of Inuyasha head as he did.

"Ow! You little brat!" Inuyasha grabbed Shippou and threw him off, making the little kit hit the ground hard.

"Inuyasha! Shippou is only concerned for Kagome-sama's whereabouts!" he glanced at Sango and continued, "As we all are. Where is she?"

"Kidnapped, bozo! Just now! We have to go after her!" Inuyasha glared at both of them as they stood there motionless, shocked.

"Why didn't you go after her?" Sango asked. "Was it Naraku or who took her?"

Inuyasha turned away, not wanting to tell them that it had been Kikyo.

"Does it really matter?" He said instead. "All that matters is that she was kidnapped, so let's go find her!"

"It was Kikyo!" Shippou suddenly said, climbing onto Sango's shoulder. "I can smell her all over her! And that's all! It had to be her, there's no other scent!"

"Shut up, kit!" Inuyasha growled out, wanting to punch Shippou, but not wanting to hit Sango. "Ok, maybe it was her, but it still doesn't matter! Can we go and save her now?"

Miroku was the first one to recover from this new bit of news. "Why," he stared. "Would Kikyo-sama take Kagome? Surely it might be that she wants her soul back?"

Inuyasha shook his head, now wanting to hit Miroku. Trying to control his temper, and wanting to laugh about that, he said, "No, she's taking Kagome for a year. It's not going to take her a year to get Kagome's soul…I just want to get Kagome back and question Kikyo!"

"She's taking Kagome for training." Came another voice from the trees, making them all turn towards it. "With Kikyo-sama's training it will only take Kagome a year to awaken her powers further and control them."

"Who's there?" Sango called, searching all of the shadows. "Come out!"

"You should treat an old women better," Kaede said, stepping from the trees. "I'm not as young as I wish I was."

"Kaede-sama!" Shippou yelled, jumping into her arms. "Kagome has been…"

"I know, Shippou, that's why I just said what I did." She looked up at the other and said, "Let us go to the village, I am only out here as I sensed Kikyo's aura." And she started to walk away, leaving the others to follow.

"So," she said as the village came in site. "Kikyo is going to train Kagome. I would like to know why, she does not usually train for free." She looked up at Inuyasha, who looked away. "Inuyasha, what are you not telling us?"

"Nothing, hag." He sighed as they all glared at him. "I dunno, they got into a fight about who was better, and then Kikyo took her."

"Ah," Kaede said, her face growing sad. "She is taking Kagome to train her to become more powerful, we know this. The reason? So that she can fairly take her soul in the end. For, unless Kagome's soul is willing, she will not be able to take it." Kaede sighed. They had reached the village and now entered her hut. "Anything else we should know, Inuyasha."

"Only that Kikyo told me not to go after her." He looked over at Kaede, hoping that she would not saying anything about this. No suck luck for him though.

"Then we shall go." She said. "She only told you, Inuyasha, not to follow, not the rest of you. And I myself must go to keep my sister from doing something drastic."

They all nodded, except Inuyasha who stood, ready to argue his way into coming. But it would have to wait as a shout of, "Kaede! Priestess Kaede! You must come quickly! White air snake demons are invading the village!" broke through the air.

A/N: RandR! So, how do you like it? I know the beginning is from Miko vs. Miko, but I had them both started from the same piece of work and I just altered them…w/e. Anyways, I hope you like this one to! I'll try and update the rest of my stories soon, but computer hates me and it might be a few hours/days/weeks, I dunno, until it's fixed.

Love ya alls lots lots!

Ja ne

Nene-Chan (Neo Staff)


	2. Chapter 2

They all nodded, except Inuyasha who stood, ready to argue his way into coming. But it would have to wait as a shout of, "Kaede! Priestess Kaede! You must come quickly! White air snake demons are invading the village!" broke through the air.

They all turned to the voice, which belonged to one of the village people who had taken a to being a scout for Kaeda, looking for anything that was out of the ordinary in the village.

"Yes, we're coming." She said, getting up as quickly as her old bones would allow her. "Let us go take care of them before they cause any real harm. We do not want anyone to kill one by accident and have my sister angry."

Nodding again they left, hoping to find the villagers inside of their homes and away from any danger. But when they reached where the demons were, they were already gliding away…and two of them had souls in their hands.

"Who's?" Inuyasha asked. "Who's did they take?"

Kaeda nodded and went over to the hut they had come out of. The man inside was already pulling a cover over a body…there was already one, small, body covered.

"Yours?" she asked, and the man only sniffed slightly and nodded. She left him to grieve on his own and went back to the others.

"A child and mother. Stillborn and she must have died in child birth." She sighed. She had forgotten then the women had been going to give birth soon, and the possibility of a death, and she hadn't put up a barrier. "It is my fault, I should have remembered."

"No," Sango said, patting her arm. "It's not your fault. Now let's go back to your hut and get some rest for tomorrow." She glanced at Inuyasha who was watching the sky in the direction the soul stealers had left. "Inuyasha?" she said, and he turned and walked back to the hut silently with the others.

…With Kagome and Kikyo…

Kagome had fallen asleep as they had been moving through the trees but was suddenly awoken by a strange lights that were going by her face. Opening her eyes she looked for the source of the light and saw more soul stealers heading in the direction of Kikyo, all of them holding something. And it was something that Kagome knew was a soul.

"You're awake." Kikyo said, taking another soul into her body. "I thought you were going to sleep this whole trip." Kagome only glared at her. She didn't hate Kikyo, no, but she did dislike the miko. From the little that Inuyasha had told them all, Kikyo had once been a kind, caring, loving miko. But once she was dead, only hate was there and she became a hating, mean, evil priestess.

"No, I wanted to watch you steal someone's poor soul and keep it for yourself." She retorted, making Kikyo laugh.

"You have spirit, Kagome. That will come in great help when I am training you." Kikyo said.

"Maybe I don't want your training." Kagome said, knowing it was futile to say anything really. "Maybe I just want to go back to Inuyasha and the others."

"Fine then." Kikyo said, and she gestured for the soul catchers to let her go. She dropped to the ground and was about to run when Kikyo said, "But I shall have to kill you now. I am going to have my soul back, weather I have to find a way to force it to submit later or not." Kagome was now frozen to the spot.

"Fine." She said finally. "But you could be a little nicer." At this Kikyo laughed.

"My niceness died when I did." Something shot through her eyes and she turned around to keep walking. "Come," she said. "We are almost there."

Knowing she would have to go the rest of the way on foot, and not really caring, Kagome followed, trying to keep away from the soul stealers who seemed to have taken quite an interest in her.

And Kikyo was right. Not five minutes later and they had come to the base of a tall mountain, had turned to their right, walked a little ways, and come to the gaping mouth of a large cave.

"Here your training will start." She said. "But my guess is that your friends shall come after you and we shall have to more." She walked inside and continued. "If not then it shall all happen here."

Kagome found that the cave connected to a lot of other, small cave systems, and that they were on the main path. They took this one the whole way, meeting only bugs and small animals who liked the dark and quiet.

They finally came into a _large_ open space that had nothing in it but a few torches and such things to light them. Kagome looked up, as it was light inside there even though none of the torches were lit, and found a large hole.

"Wow." She said. "You live here or something?"

"When I am not looking for souls." Kikyo replied. "Or helping or looking for Naraku."

She heard Kagome gasp. So she hadn't known that she had been helping Naraku? What a foolish child.

"So what am I suppose to do?" she asked, looking around again. There didn't seem to be any weapons or books or anything lying around that she thought would help her to learn anything.

"You're suppose to learn." Kikyo said. "Now watch. I am going to teach you how to hide your energy. It is a basic skill and you'll need it. As your powers grow if you do not hide them every demon in Japan will start to come after you." Kagome gasped again and Kikyo almost rolled her eyes. "After that I think I might teach you not to be afraid or every little thing."

"I am not afraid of everything!" Kagome said, mad now. "I was just…surprised."

"Closing your mind needs to be put onto the list to." Kagome clapped her hands to her head, which made Kikyo laugh. "That isn't going to help." She looked around and said, "Let's get started. We only have a year and we're wasting time."

Kagome watched as she walked to the center of the room, closed her eyes, and let her arms go a little limp. Then, suddenly, Kagome was able to see a pink and black aura forming around Kikyo. She almost gasped, but made herself swallow it, not wanting Kikyo to think her afraid again.

"Can you see it?" Kikyo asked. Kagome nodded, remembered that Kikyo couldn't see her, and said, "Yes."

"Good," Kikyo said. She was slightly surprised. Most of the students that she had taught hadn't been able to see anything until Kikyo had let almost all of her guards down and more then a few demons had sensed her.

'She's good,' Kikyo thought. 'I might not even need a year to get her up to my level.' Kikyo only wanted it to be a fair fight. If Kagome got to strong, she knew it would still be fair, but she would lose. Then again…once Kagome started to get her powers under control they might grow anyways without Kikyo's help.

"Now watch." She said. Slowly, so that Kagome was able to see, she started to draw the energy back into herself. "See how I am drawing it into myself? You must do this. You must _feel _the power doing this, you must want it to go into you."

"Ok." Kagome said, not quite sure she really understood. She watched as Kikyo opened her eyes and gestured for Kagome to try it.

"Slowly." She said. "If you do it to fast you might…" she stopped as she watched Kagome close her eyes and draw the power into herself. She did it quickly and quietly, no moaning or groaning, as she had heard for her other students.

'She could be the one." Kikyo said. "The one to defeat all demons. That is, if she lives.' Kikyo was referring to an ancient prophecy that stated that one day all demons, half demons included, would one day be eradicated by a powerful miko. It was not really a very comforting thought.

When Kikyo was no longer able to see even a trace of power, it had taken longer since Kagome's powers were still growing, and they were even greater then Kikyo's, she said. "Good. Now, to keep it inside of you, you must want it to. Think of yourself as a bottle, holding it all in. Don't let any of it out. Find a place inside of you, and hold it there." Kikyo thought about telling her that the strongest place to hold her power would be her soul. It could grow faster there, stronger…but, then again, it could also be dangerous for the first time.

Nodding, her eyes still closed, Kagome did just that. 'This seems easier then I thought.' She thought. 'But where to put it?' Then a thought came to her. 'My soul…it's big, right? It can hold it.' So she felt for it, her soul, and found it filling her. She thought all of her power into it and it went, quickly, and didn't move for a moment…then it started to grow. She gasped and opened her eyes.

"What now?" Kikyo said. She really didn't have to ask though, she knew what was going on. Kagome had put her energy in her soul on her own and at once it had started to grow. It had taken Kikyo's weeks to even get slightly bigger.

"Nothing," Kagome said, though. "What next?"

Kikyo thought. She had thought it would take her all day to master this skill, but it hadn't even taken her half an hour! She wondered if she was ready for closing her mind.

"Fine," she said more to herself then Kagome. "Your mind is next. You need to close it. If there is another demon, like the one that Naraku made, you do not want it to read your mind and what you are about to do."

Kagome nodded, remember the time when Inuyasha had gone full demon for the first time. That memory was going to stick with her for a while.

"Now, this is very complex in a way." Kikyo started. :This skill has many parts to it, many ways to keep someone out." She wondered if Kagome understood so she said, "Understand?"

Kagome nodded again and said, "Yeah, I have to put up walls, just like on a house." Now it was Kikyo's turn to be confused but she didn't say anything about it.

"Yes," she said. "But more then walls. Mirrors, walls, water, everything." When Kagome opened her mouth Kikyo said, "Yes water. Dense water, false water, everything."

Kagome nodded again, making sure she was quiet now.

"Just like the other things, you have to think about it." Kikyo said. "But you also have to reinforce them, put them in a good order. You do not want to have mud and water next to each other, they will fall easily then. You can have any elements, anything you want, as your walls. But mirrors and walls are best. Try it."

This time Kagome was doing this all without really knowing what she was doing. She closed her eyes again and thought about every element that she knew about. And all of a sudden she was inside of herself, in her mind. It was big, really really big, and filled with her power, or, really, the color of her power.

She sat down inside of herself, and she also sat down in the real world. Then, one by one, thinking of every element that she knew she drew them up and put them around herself. At first, when a mirror started to rise out of the energy around her, she had been scared. Then she thought that everything must come for this power. She let it surround her, far out and away from her, then she put up another one, thicker, and another.

She then went to mud. Three walls, getting thicker as they went, came up. Then to fire, making the backside of the nearest mud hard. Next came come rock, three layers, also getting thicker. It wouldn't get hurt by the fire, and it would stand. Next came air and wind, getting stronger as it came, three layers also. Next, water, getting deeper and denser in the three layers.

Then came more mirrors, these thick as well. Finally, she was forced to stand up while she put up her last defenses. She had just enough room, at the end, to stick her arms out to each side or lay down if she wanted to. Her last three layers were light and darkness, mixed. How she had made them mix evenly and not do anything weird, she had no idea.

She opened her eyes to find that it was now dark and Kikyo was once again taking souls into her body.

"How long…" her voice came out merely as a crock, which made Kikyo look at her. She was still able to speak. This child was powerful, more powerful then she had expected.

"There is water there," she said and pointed. "And it has been four hours and ten minutes."

Kagome gulped down the water, got more form a spring Kikyo pointed out at the side of the room that Kagome hadn't noticed, and said, "Can light and darkness mix?" for a moment Kikyo said nothing, and Kagome thought she had said something bad.

"If the will is strong enough, yes." She finally. "And it is the strongest. It has only been done once, though, by the women who taught my master." She saw Kagome's eyes widen and knew she had done it as well. "I shall not try to break yours, then." She went on. "If you can do that then I'm not even going to try."

A/N: Yeah, another chapter done! Hope you like, and RandR please, I want more reviews! Lol

--Nene


	3. Chapter 3

"If the will is strong enough, yes." She finally. "And it is the strongest. It has only been done once, though, by the women who taught my master." She saw Kagome's eyes widen and knew she had done it as well. "I shall not try to break yours, then." She went on. "If you can do that then I'm not even going to try."

Kagome, though shocked that Kikyo had even thought about breaking into her mind, said, "How would you do it?" she was very curious. She had known that Kikyo had had other students that she had taught…so had they all found it easy? Had they all had Kikyo break into their minds? Did it hurt?

"I would enter into your mind, in a sense, and try to find you." She watched as Kagome expression changed from one of slight horror and curiosity to only curiosity. "Then I would be able to read your thoughts." She didn't add that it could be painful if Kagome struggled a lot.

"Why don't you try?" Kagome said. "I mean, it doesn't seem like it really would be all that hard…"

"It's more complicated then you imagine." Kikyo said. She was starting to get annoyed with all of the questions. It was not up to her to question what Kikyo did and didn't do. "If you tried it on me you wouldn't be able to get very far, if anywhere at all."

"Can I try anyways?" Kagome said. "It seems that it could come in handy if I needed to predict someone's move or something."

Kikyo, laughing on the inside that this girl thought she would be able to get into her mind, said, "If you wish, but when you collapse I shall not try to revive you."

Kagome just rolled her eyes, muttered about mean people, and asked, "Ok, what do I do?"

This time Kikyo really did laugh. "Think," she said, knowing she was going to be saying that word for a while now. "Think yourself into my mind. Once there you must break through my defenses. But…" she paused a moment, wondering if she should tell her and decided to. "But you will leave your mind open to me as well."

For a moment Kagome looked scared again, as though someone entering into her mind was going to be the end of the world. Finally, after biting her lip for a few moments in thought, she said, 'Fine then."

"Sit," Kikyo said, and Kagome did as she was told, making sure that she was able to see everything that Kikyo did. She didn't know if it was possible for someone to cheat somehow but she didn't want to leave anything open.

"Ready?" Kikyo asked and Kagome nodded.

"Ok, then, think." And Kikyo closed her eyes, Kagome a beat or so behind her.

Kagome thought, and she thought hard. She tried to imagine herself going inside of Kikyo's head, fitting herself into her skull. For a moment nothing happened. Then, slowly, she saw an image forming in her minds eye. It was an empty space, like the one in her mind, but it was filled with purple and orange fog stuff, and it was also mixed with a lot of black.

'I must be inside her mind.' Kagome thought, standing up. 'But where are her walls?' she looked around, but she couldn't see anything. Finally deciding to walk a bit to see if she could find anything she took a step forward.

Almost at once she was thrown back by something that she couldn't see. Opening her eyes, she looked up. A wall, made out of the fog stuff under her, had just formed out of nowhere.

'I guess it took a second for her to raise her defenses?' Kagome asked herself. She was about to take a step forward to examine the thing when she felt something, something in her head. Almost at once she tried to block the thing, which she thought might be Kikyo, out.

With Kikyo…

For a moment she waited, wanting to see if Kagome would be able to get into her mind. It was a while before she felt anything, so long that Kikyo had thought Kagome might just have gone to sleep. She was successful, Kikyo found out after a moment, when she felt a unpleasant sensation in her mind, as though someone was entering it.

At once she felt her walls and such go up and she again closed her eyes, now concentrating on Kagome's mind. It took her a moment to find where Kagome's mind was, it was so deep inside of her, inside her soul really, and that confused Kikyo. How was Kagome able to have such a large soul that it filled her and every part of her was buried in it?

Pushing this aside to think about later, she slowly entered Kagome's mind so that she wasn't to notice her right away. It worked to a point, she knew Kagome might know something was up, but she wasn't doing anything. Kikyo took a moment to look around her and below her, at the swirling colored fog under her feet. It was Pink and blue, but she saw it shift every once in a while to show black and white, always touching and swirling around each other, inside the other two colors.

She took a step or two forward, and at once knew that she shouldn't have agreed to go into her mind. Walls, many different kinds, came up around her, not just around Kagome inner self. This confused Kikyo as well. Only the most powerful miko's should be able to capture anyone in their mind…or send things against said intruder. For that was exactly what Kagome was doing.

After the walls went up around her, things, many things, made out of what seemed night and day, black and white, came out of the walls and advanced slowly on her.

"Kagome." She said. "Call these things off, you do not want to kill me." For a moment the things kept moving…then stopped…then, slowly as before, they went back inside of the walls, which stayed up.

'Well, if she's going to play that way I'll let her.' Kikyo thought, sitting herself down. She didn't want to die and she didn't want to have to rain herself, and maybe die anyways, trying to break herself out. Kagome was very powerful if she was able to change her barriers a will to suit her needs. Kikyo was no fool, she'd wait this out, no matter how long it took.

With Kagome…

After that little fright of feeling Kikyo inside her mind, and hearing her inside her head as well, Kagome took a moment to settle her nerves. How for had Kikyo gotten without her knowing? How much did she know about her?

'Ok, it's alright.' She told herself. 'Let's just see how far I can get.' For a moment she was still. Then, gathering her courage, she stepped forward again, towards the first wall, and reached her hand out. The second her hand connected with it, she cringed, thinking something would happen to her…but nothing did.

Looking up...and up and up and up, Kagome saw that climbing wasn't an option. Sighing, wondering if she would be able to get out or through this wall, she leaned against it. She really didn't know any skills, so she thought about it some more..

'Well,' she finally decided, pushing herself off of the wall. 'I think that I might just let Kikyo train me then try this later. It be better then, right? I'd find out a lot…right? Now…how do I get out?' but she thought she knew the answer. She thought about leaving Kikyo's body, leaving her mind, everything.

And it worked. She felt herself being pulled out, away from Kikyo, and found herself outside…of everything. She wasn't in her body at all, she seemed to be floating in the air, suspended by…something.

She saw Kikyo open her eyes and look around, then at her, Kagome's, body. She suddenly sighed and said, "You must think yourself back into your body as well. Otherwise you'll just be a spirit or so." Kagome rolled her eyes, thinking that Kikyo had purposely not told her this. But she did as she was told and soon was opening her eyes, and yawning.

"Enough," Kikyo said after Kagome had closed her mouth. "Bed, it's late and there is much to do tomorrow." Kagome only nodded, and looked around, opening her mouth to ask where she was to sleep.

"There is a futon over there," as Kagome crawled into it Kikyo said softly, as though to a sister, "Goodnight."

Four days later with Inuyasha and the others…

"Do you smell them?" Sango asked, looking in front of her, searching for Inuyasha.

"No," Inuyasha said from within the trees. "Not even a little bit."

They all knew that Inuyasha wasn't suppose to go after them but…if they only used him to smell them out then made him go back, Kikyo need never know that he had gone after them at all.

"Keep looking," Miroku said from behind Sango. "They can't just have vanished."

They didn't get a response…well, not a clear one, only some growls and cursing.

"Do you really think we're going to find them?" Shippou said. "It's been…um…a week or so."

"Three." Miroku corrected. Shippou, he noticed, had been losing track of things ever since Kagome left. He understood, to, why. Kagome was like a mother to him and being away from her for so long must have been taking a toll on him.

"Well find her," Sango said. "Soon, we'll find her soon." Shippou only nodded, though he seemed to be not really listening. Miroku and Sango exchanged worried looks but they didn't say anything about it to Shippou.

It was a few hours later, near dusk, when they all decided to turn back. It had been like all of the other days: nothing was found. They came in sight of Kaeda's hut and landed, walking the rest of the way. No one really talked, they knew it would only piss someone off. Everyone had been on edge of late, and it wasn't helping that they were all prone to sudden out bursts.

Entering the hut, they sat themselves down, ate the food Kaeda her prepared, and go ready for sleep. It came to none of them fast, butt soon enough all but one were in dreamland. Inuyasha, wide awake, whispered into the night, "I miss you."

With Kagome and Kikyo…

"Aim higher!" Kikyo barked out to the girl holding the bow. "You're arms are starting to lag. Again!"

Grumbling, Kagome raised the bow she was holding and shot the arrow at the target in front of her. It hit the second ring from the eye. Cursing herself mentally, she turned to Kikyo and said, "We've been doing this all day! Of course my arms are going to lag! They're tired!"

It had been three weeks already, and Kagome had grown so much. Even a lot of her fear and complaining had stopped. But she still, every once in a while, gave a sudden out burst. Sighing, and waiting for Kikyo to call out 'again' Kagome raised her bow.

But Kikyo never spoke the word, she only said, "Are you the training master? No, so do not complain, I thought you were over that."

"I am!" Kagome said. "I am now, hurry up!"

But Kikyo only stood there, watching Kagome. Finally she walked away and said, "Follow, it is time for fist and swords." She heard Kagome sigh, but ignored it.

They walked deeper into the cave, coming out on the other side which offered more room for them to move around in.

"Just as before, with your boy and arrows." Kikyo said. "You must…"

"Think about the sword coming into being." Kagome finished. "I know." Kikyo ignored her and drew her own sword for the air. Kagome took a moment, tired form archery, but finally she was able to draw one from air as well. She was the same color as her energy, as was Kikyo, and it shifted color as well.

"Ready?" Kikyo said, but she didn't want for an answer. She knew Kagome would be ready anyways, no matter what. "Go!" she said, and lunged at Kagome.

And so went their routine. In the morning they got up early to eat breakfast, went out into what sun light there was, and started with new skills to train on. After a few hours, into the afternoon, they would move to the side of the mountain and practice archery, which Kagome was getting better at by the second. After that, towards dusk and night, they would start other forms of fighting: fist, fencing, such things like that. After that, after they had eaten, they would go back outside and study from books or study the stars.

And it was apparent to Kikyo that it wouldn't take a year to get Kagome up to her level. And she really didn't mind. But, as she had promised a year, she would give a year…even if it meant that Kagome would be more powerful then she was.

A/N: Oh, like it? Ok, I cut off a bit, but I wanted to! Heeheehee, have fun with it, and Ill update soon. If you're confused, good, lol. Anyways, more to come, and lots of things will be cleared up soon, ja ne!

--Nene


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